Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Publishing companies in the Newsquest Media Group do not store or capture personal data about you when you visit one of our sites, other than to record the IP address of your computer or device, your web browser and the number of pages you view during a visit.

We use the information only for system administration and to help us evaluate use of the network of Newsquest websites so that we can continue to develop and improve our online services. In addition, the information is used anonymously in order to recommend to you and others content that may be of interest.

Where any personal data, like your name and address, is requested you will always be advised why it is needed, what it will be used for and how you can contact us to have the details amended or deleted. Personal information can be collected by us from you when you register for a news, property or job alert by email; comment on an article; request services from us or third parties connected with us; email us; use our website; participate in promotions; enter competitions or otherwise provide your personal details.

For example, you would need to fill in your name and address for competition entries, letters to the editor, or when you are accessing transactional services like booking advertisements online.

In these transactional environments, you will also need to have cookies enabled (see our cookies policy). You can decide if you want to accept cookies by changing the settings on your computer. If you do not accept cookies some features on our sites will not work as intended and the services we can supply to you will be significantly reduced. For instance, this will affect the delivery of advertisements, pop-ups and sub-sites, as well as transactional elements of booking advertisements online. It will also affect the use of forums, reader comments and message boards. You can reset your browser to refuse all cookies, or allow your browser to show you when a cookie is being sent. For more information, read our cookies policy.

Newsquest Media Group publishing companies are registered with the Data Protection Commission in the UK and we adhere to the Data Protection Act 1998.

1. Personal responsibility and choice

Disclosure of personal, private and confidential material is at your own risk. Any information you choose to disseminate on the website, community forums, reader comment pages or blogs becomes public information and, subject to our Terms, remains online. We cannot control site users and advise you to exercise care in disclosing personal information on the internet. However, we shall take care of any personal information you supply to us as described in this policy in accordance with data protection legislation. Persons under 16 should not disclose to us any personal information without first getting the permission of a parent or guardian.

2. Our policy

By registering or subscribing to this website, or otherwise providing personal information to us, you agree to the collection, retention, usage and distribution of your personal information under this policy and the Terms of use of the website.

3. Changes of policy

This policy may be revised or updated at any time and we encourage you to familiarise yourself with it and read it frequently to keep yourself updated.

4. Use of your personal information

Your personal information, including contact information such as postal and email addresses and telephone numbers, may be used by us or by one of our connected companies (as defined in section 9 of the Terms) for any of our internal purposes, including for instance, administration, site updates or upgrades. It may be used anonymously for statistical analysis, market research and evaluating the use of our websites. We may also use identifiable personal data for editorial purposes, promotions and marketing of goods and services, but you can indicate you do not wish to receive such information from us by editing your account preferences here.

5. Disclosure of personal information to third parties

Your personal information will be disclosed where we are obliged or permitted to do so by law, or in the circumstances described in paragraph 20 of the Terms. We may disclose non-personally identifiable data to commercial advertisers on our websites or any other of our commercial clients to help them understand and meet potential customer preferences and needs. We may disclose your personal information to selected third parties who may then send information to you about goods and services. You can indicate you do not wish to receive such information by editing your account preferences here.

6. Retention of personal information

We will keep your personal information securely on our systems for as long as may be necessary for the purposes described in this policy. At any time you can tell us if you do not want us to continue to store and use your details and we will erase them and cancel your registration for the website, although we may need to keep for a minimum of 12 months thereafter any messaging transcript data in connection with the use of community forums, reader comments or blogs or any other part of the website.

7. Other information

In addition to personal information we obtain, including your name, postal and email addresses and telephone numbers, we may also collect information that is in no way personally identifiable. This may include the operating system you are working on, the internet browser you are using, the domain name of your internet service provider and the websites you visit directly before and after your visit.

8. Cookies

A "cookie" is a piece of software which can stick to a computer's hard drive and recalls details about how your computer operates. We reserve the right to use this information to track your movements through our website. Personal information about you is not collected during this process. You can disable the cookies if your browser allows this. For further information please see our cookies policy.

9. Third party advertising companies

Newsquest uses third-party advertising companies such as Google to serve ads when you visit our websites. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and would like to know your options in relation to not having this information used by these companies, click here.

10. Data protection

You are entitled to request personal data that we hold about you for a small charge. You can insist that we correct any information about you.

11. Third party policies

Third parties and websites linked to our site may collect or use information about you. We are not liable for the information practices of unconnected companies or other persons except as may be required by law.

Remember that nothing in this Privacy Policy applies to the journalistic material published in our newspapers, whether in print or online. Such material will usually be exempt from the principles of data protection legislation.